Out of the Loop
by Tabi
Summary: Haruhi storms around the town, looking for something to do.


Haruhi wasn't sure that there was anything less interesting than the time just before exam season. Everybody was busy, nobody wanted to do anything, and they all seemed to think that trying to cram the contents of their textbooks into their brains the night beforehand was the best way to secure victory. Rationally, she knew that everybody studied differently, each student had their own level of achievement - but on an emotional level, she was _bored_. And nobody was replying to her messages, so she was getting annoyed. _Of course they'd all be busy doing boring things right now. Why can't they manage their time better?!_

As such, Koizumi found himself cornered and trapped quite neatly near the school gates.

"Koizumi-kun-! Are you busy right now?!"

His manner seemed somewhat stressed, but he managed to produce a smile for her. "I... was just on the way to my part-time job."

"I see..." She folded her arms, making no aim to hide her sulky expression. "You haven't seen Kyon, have you? If he hasn't finished revising then that's his own fault-!"

Koizumi's expression changed slightly, but Haruhi was in no mood to notice. "Was there... something the matter?"

Again, her emotions were plain to see. "I'm just so _bored_ -! Everywhere across the school feels so heavy because of the exams, and everyone's _busy_ , and why are they trying to do everything last-minute?! It's ridiculous! We're never gonna find anything exciting when everyone's so moody-! I can't stand it!"

"W-well, I mean-... I probably have time beforehand... if you perhaps wanted to go for a coffee, or something-... maybe we can find the others...?"

"You've got your job to go to though, haven't you?"

"They might be... flexible."

Rather than respond to that, Haruhi narrowed her eyes. "Is your job fun, Koizumi-kun?"

"... Fun?" For some reason, Koizumi's smile brightened at the thought. "I think anybody who could describe their job as being 'fun' would be lucky indeed."

"Doesn't matter if it's fun or not, you've still got to do it, right?"

"... Right."

"Isn't that boring?"

"It's necessary."

Under that context, it almost felt _annoying_ to see Koizumi smile. Again, rationally she knew that he was correct, and yet...

OOOOOOOOOO

The clubroom - as was usual for the exam period - was almost empty. 'Almost' being for the presence of Yuki, whose routine seemed unchanged regardless of the time of year or the amount of mandatory school events impending. She didn't look up on Haruhi entering the room, simply turning another page of her book.

"Heyyy, Yuki-chan-!"

Again, no response, but Yuki _did_ look up from her book. As Haruhi approached, she was able to make out the title - not that that explained anything. The book itself seemed quite thick, and knowing Yuki, was probably quite complicated.

"Good book?"

Yuki glanced down at the book, then back up to Haruhi. "... It's relevant."

Haruhi was sure that that short review meant something to Yuki, but didn't feel like pressing her into trying to explain it. "Yeah? Cool. Always nice to find a book like that."

"That statement was sarcastic."

It took all of Haruhi's patience not to snap back that of _course_ it was, what sort of response was _that_ , _what the hell Yuki-_. Out of all the members of the SOS-dan, Yuki felt like the least deserving of Haruhi's anger at that moment - though saying things like _that_ made her dangerously close to moving up on that scale. Haruhi bit her lip and stared out of the window.

"Is it fun? Do you think I'd like it?"

She turned to face Yuki, only to see her apparently staring into the middle distance for a couple of seconds before responding.

"I calculate a 0.0000975% chance of this book producing the 'fun' response from you."

"Huh, is that so?"

"My calculation is correct, albeit with room for error."

Haruhi stormed out of the clubroom. "Guess I won't read _that_ one, then."

OOOOOOOOOO

Saturday afternoons would usually have seen students fresh from school milling around the town, but the gloomy atmosphere that pervaded the school buildings seemed to have spilt out to the town beyond. Haruhi gripped her bag strap with considerable force, her efforts to quell her mood only serving to make them worse.

The weather was still pleasant, however, and so spotting Mikuru leaning against a wall near their frequented café came as some relief. She didn't _look_ busy, but she still seemed to tense up on seeing Haruhi approach.

"Mikuru-chaaaan-! Hey, are you doing anything at the moment?" She put her hands on her hips and grinned. "It's a nice day, so we should go find some fun. Gotta be some somewhere, right?"

Mikuru waved her hands in indecision, clearly suddenly uncomfortable. "Ah, well, that is-... I can't-... _right_ now, it's-... it's not a good time... right now..."

"I suppose your year has it even worse than we do for studying, right?"

"... A little... I might be busy over the next week or so apart from that, though... so if I'm not at the clubroom, then... that's why..."

"Oh yeah? Doing anything interesting?"

A look of abject fear crossed Mikuru's brow for a half-second, before she attempted a smile. "My... older sister... might be visiting."

"What?! That's really exciting! You have a sister?! You never told me-!"

"Y-yeah, um... she's... she's really busy though, so... maybe you'll get to meet her, but... m-maybe not..." (By that point, however, Haruhi wasn't listening.)

OOOOOOOOOO

Kyon blinked awake, noticing his phone flashing. _20 alerts from Haruhi._

 _What?!_

Most of them were missed calls, but one message lay at the end.

" _Kyon! Mikuru has an older sister?! She never said anything about that before! That's SUPER suspicious. We're investigating this ASAP! Message me IMMEDIATELY when you get this!_ "

Rubbing one hand over his face, Kyon sighed deeply. He pushed his phone away, and closed his eyes again. _Sounds stressful. ...She can wait._


End file.
